History Characters / MassEffectAshleyWilliams

[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reaper_war_ash.png]]
[[caption-width-right:280: Nothing like a nice relaxing stroll on the beach... [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter blasting bad guys with my boomstick]]!]]

* ArmorIsUseless: [[spoiler: If Shepard is forced to shoot her, they only shoot her once with the Predator, the weakest pistol in the game. Despite wearing heavy armor, having kinetic barriers that have withstood dozens of bullets in cutscenes, and having medi-gel on hand just in case she gets shot, the bullet goes right through her and she dies a few minutes later]].

* BadassNormal: On teams including a super strong combat robot, a fifty thousand year old Avatar of Vengeance with PsychicPowers, one of the few surviving [[SuperPrototype L2 biotics]], a scientist who also happens to be able to [[MindOverMatter lift a Geth Colossus with her mind]], and a thousand-year old MagicKnight who ''also'' has super strength ''and'' can pick up a Geth Colossus with his mind, what does she bring to the table? She carries lot of guns and mods[[note]]Ammo mods, alternate firing mods like Concussive Shot, etc.[[/note]] and really knows how to use them. [[SimpleYetAwesome This is more than enough to let her hold her own.]]

* DeadpanSnarker: Despite being dedicated to following protocol, she's definitely isn't shy about sassing Shepard.

** She also is hospitalized early in the third game after being attacked by [[spoiler: Eva Coré]] on Mars, remaining out of action until [[spoiler: the Cerberus coup attempt.]] Ashley is not given much dialogue on ''Normandy'', but the writers have clarified that she has the ''same'' amount of lines as Kaidan; her conversations just mostly take place on the Citadel, while Kaidan's are largely restricted to the ''Normandy''. Certain bugged and unused conversations (including one with Liara after the conclusion of ''Priority: The Citadel II'', an unused discussion on morality and death with Shepard in their cabin and unused lines in her date and memorial visit on the Citadel) would have expanded this dialogue further.

** Makes it very clear she distrusts Liara at first meeting, and acts surprisingly juvenile about it in a conversation afterwards, but if Shepard points out Liara's lack of social skills means teasing her is probably a bad idea, Ash immediately backs off from thereon out.

* HeartbrokenBadass: If romanced by Shepard in the first game, it's clear that she took Shepard's death hard. It takes until half-way through the third game until she's ready to believe that Shepard is who they claim they are and trust them again.

* JerkassHasAPoint:

* TookALevelInKindness: If romanced by a paragon Shepard in Mass Effect 1, Ashley can get challenged on her views of aliens and end up adopting a more idealistic and accepting view towards them. To the point where she will be character arguing in favor of rescuing the council even if it means sacrificing human lives.
** Even if not romanced, she develops this way by herself, calling out Terra Firma for racism and getting along well with all her alien squadmates in the elevators.

!Lieutenant Commander[[labelnote:*]]Gunnery Chief ([=ME1=]), Operations Chief ([=ME2=])[[/labelnote]] Ashley Williams

** She also asks that the non-humans members of the crew be kept away from any important areas of the ship, on the ground that the Normandy is an Alliance vessel first and foremost and as such its secrets should stay within the Alliance. Fast-forward to the third game, and a description blurb notes that the Quarian Fleet's cloaking technology is "suscpiciously similar" to that of the Normandy, implying that Tali ''did'' steal some of its secrets for the Migrant fleet.

** She also asks that the non-humans members of the crew be kept away from any important areas of the ship, on the ground that the Normandy is an Alliance vessel first and foremost and as such its secrets should stay within the Alliance. Fast-forward to the third game, and a description blurb notes that the Quarian Fleet's cloaking technology is "suscpiciously similar" to that of the Normandy, implying that Tali ''did'' steal some of its secret for the Migrant fleet.

** She also asks that the non-humans members of the crew be kept away from any important areas of the ship, on the ground that the Normandy is an Alliance vessel first and foremost and as such its secrets should stay within the Alliance. Fast forwrd to the third game, and a description blurb notes that the Quarian Fleet's cloaking technology is "suscpiciously similar" to that of the Normandy, implying that Tali ''did'' steal some of its secret for the Migrant fleet.

'''VideoGame/MassEffect2:''' [[Characters/MassEffect2EarlyPartyMembers Early Party Members]] ([[Characters/MassEffectMirandaLawson Miranda Lawson]]) | [[Characters/MassEffect2LatePartyMembers Late Party Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2SecretPartyMembers Secret Party Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2MainAntagonists Main Antagonists]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2SecondaryAntagonists Secondary Antagonists]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2NormandyCrew Normandy Crew]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2CouncilSpaceNPCs Council Space NPCs]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2NonCouncilSpaceNPCs Non-Council Space NPCs]]\\

* AngerBornofWorry: If she's romanced and taken to the final mission of Leviathan, she's not happy about Shepard almost getting himself killed.

** Including the lingerie she wears in the romance scene with Shepard. That doesn't look like regulation military issue (although Traynor and Shepard have [[LawOfConservationOfDetail the exact same set]], so...) Might be a perk of being a Spectre, though, they ''do'' always get the best gear.

** It's important to note that even if she doesn't trust aliens, she explicitly ”[doesn’t] think humans have some kind of divine mandate, if that’s what you mean. I don’t think we’re superior" nor does she “mean we should mistreat [aliens]”. She vehemently criticizes the Terra Firma party for its much more overt racism. She also expresses sympathy for Tali the instant she hears how the Council shafted the quarians after the geth went rogue, and Tali is the only alien whose presence on the ship she doesn't object to on the ''Normandy''. Her only issues with Liara are being a romantic rival for a male Shepard and the daughter of an enemy; she urges Shepard to speak to her after Benezia's death.

* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: While far from naive and even somewhat cynical, she cannot comprehend what Cerberus hoped to accomplish [[spoiler:in Sanctuary on Horizon]], and considers her inability to do so what makes her human. [[spoiler:This is also revealed to more or less be the reason she feels she was justified in being angry with Shepard in the second game whereas Kaidan feels he overreacted; doing wrong for the right reasons is still doing wrong.]]

* HangoverSensitivity: Shepard can find her on the floor after she's spent the night drinking some of Vega's mescal. Ash's response is to ask Shep not to speak so loud... inbetween pained groaning.

* RealWomenDontWearDresses: Subversion. She's an undeniable badass and certainly never seen wearing a dress in the main games, but when Shepard mentions that he can't see her in a dress, she hesitates, saying "Damn... right... you can't!" This implies that she thinks she's ''supposed'' to be this way. If you pursue a relationship with her, she's also revealed to be a romantic at heart, while still keeping up appearances of being a hardass.

* Anger Born of Worry: If she's romanced and taken to the final mission of Leviathan, she's not happy about Shepard almost getting himself killed.

** She is the only teammate to question whether the mercenary Wrex and/or the cowboy cop Garrus should be allowed to be around sensitive areas of the Normany despite the Normandy being a turian/human project, is also the only teammate to snap at Liara in front of the rest of the team and has to be told to back off for wanting to tease Liara with a racial joke about asari promiscuity. Her being the only one to shoot Wrex makes it look worse in light of all the other details. She doesn't, however, have any concerns about Tali, who has either been allowed to join the team in front of Anderson, who had no comment, or has been assigned to work with Shepard by Udina.

* DateRapeAverted: During one of her backstory conversations, she'll talk about how her Marine father taught all his daughters how to defend themselves. One foolish boy tried to put some unwanted moves on Ashley's younger sister. He got a ''very'' painful message - in a twist, he apologized to her, and they continued dating (seems some boundaries were set).

** It's important to note that even if she doesn't trust aliens, she vehemently criticizes the Terra Firma party for its much more overt racism. She also expresses sympathy for Tali the instant she hears how the Council shafted the quarians after the geth went rogue. Tali is also the only alien whose presence on the ship she doesn't object to on the ''Normandy'', she also has no issue with Liara save for being a romantic rival and the daughter of an enemy. She will urge Shepard to speak to her after Benezia's death.

** She is the only teammate to question whether Wrex and/or Garrus should be allowed to be around sensitive areas of the Normany despite the Normandy being a Turian/Human project, is also the only teammate to snap at Liara in front of the rest of the team and has to be told to back off for wanting to tease Liara with a racial joke about Asari promiscuity. Her being the only one to shoot Wrex makes it look worse in light of all the other details.

* InTheBlood: She's a, what, fifth-generation Marine? She even invokes it during her encounter with Shepard on Horizon in ''2''.

** In ''Mass Effect 1'', she expresses distrust of the Citadel races and believes that relying on them for help is foolish, on the grounds that the aliens would inevitably abandon humanity in favor of protecting themselves. She likens it to a hunter siccing their beloved dog on a bear to cover their own escape, because as much as the hunter may love the dog, it still isn't a person. [[spoiler:In the third game, she turns out to have been completely right. In the opening days of the galaxy-wide Reaper invasion, the federation of the Citadel threatens to break down as every race turns inwards to protect their own territories, leaving humanity alone as the Reapers prioritize the harvest of Earth. It takes Shepherd roaming the galaxy, solving everyone else's problems first, before most of the other races agree to pool their resources into a united war effort.]]

* MeaningfulEcho: In the first game, Ash makes the page quote about how 'with all due respect' really means 'kiss my ass.' During the Extended Cut in the third game, when Ash [[spoiler: is injured during the run to the conduit]] and Shepard [[spoiler: orders her to evacuate]], said retorts:

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Much like Garrus, she's an extreme badass and a fine leader [[spoiler:and, in the third game, gets inducted as a Spectre.]] But when Shepard is around, there's no doubt who's the boss, or [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking why.]] Exemplified if Shepard is the one to kill [[spoiler:Udina]], at which point they immediately take total charge of the situation.

* PetTheDog: In spite of her views, if you talk to her after the Noveria mission, she'll tell Shepard to go comfort Liara [[spoiler:since her mother was killed there after succumbing to indoctrination.]] She also expresses a hope that having Tali be on their team will improve people's views of quarians during one of the game's many long elevator rides. As well, she takes the Virmire assignment of leading an assault force of salarians without complaint. In fact, the salarians come out of it with nothing but respect for her.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Averted. If Shepard asks about her family in the first game, she relays the time one of her sisters was almost raped by her boyfriend Mike when they were teenagers, but thankfully the Williams sisters all knew self-defense. After Sar flattened him for trying to rape her on a "romantic walk" in the woods and then flattened him on the pavement ''again'' when he tried to verbally and physically assault her in broad daylight over it, Sar forgave him. If Shepard expresses apprehension over this, Ashley casually dismisses it, saying he was just a kid.
* RealMenLoveJesus: Though obviously not a man, she's very tomboyish, and is also the only character other than maybe Liara to bring up her faith directly. Shepard can either agree with her (citing there's "[[PrayerIsALastResort no atheist in a foxhole]]," and Shepard's been in plenty of them) or disagree with varying levels of rudeness.

* SoleSurvivor: Of her unit on Eden Prime.

* TookALevelInBadass: At the start of ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'', she's a competent but unremarkable marine, and requires aid to survive against a couple geth troopers. In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', assuming she survives, she's made a Spectre, essentially meaning she's declared humanity's second most competent agent behind Shepard him or herself.

* ShootTheDog: [[spoiler: She kills Wrex on Virmire to protect Shepard if Shepard either orders her to or is unable to talk Wrex down.]]

* UpThroughTheRanks: Assuming she survived the first game, she goes from a gunnery chief (a grade of noncom) to a lieutenant commander.

* PeekABangs: Replaces her PrimAndProperBun in ''Mass Effect 3.''

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reaper_war_ash.png]]
[[caption-width-right:250: Nothing like a nice relaxing stroll on the beach... [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter blasting bad guys with my boomstick]]!]]

[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Mass-Effect-3-Ashley-Williams_2442.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:330: Nothing like a nice relaxing stroll on the beach... [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter blasting bad guys with my boomstick]]!]]

* NeverLiveItDown: Even in the first game her opinions regarding alien races are fairly nuanced, and aren't even unique compared to other characters (various alien characters express similarly negative views about humans, as well as other alien races). They also aren't her only character trait, and her views develop over the course of the story, particularly in Mass Effect 3. Her views on God also come up in essentially ''one'' conversation. However, among a large part of the fandom she's pretty much known as "Ashley the Bible-Thumping Space Racist."

* NeverLiveItDown: Even in the first game her opinions regarding alien races are fairly nuanced, and aren't even unique compared to other characters (various alien characters similarly express negative views about humans, as well as other alien races). They also aren't her only character trait, and her views develop over the course of the story, particularly in Mass Effect 3. Her views on God also come up essentially in ''one'' conversation. However, among a large part of the fandom she's pretty much known as "Ashley the Bible-Thumping Space Racist."

** Pops up if you romance her in the first game. Along with the ADateWithRosiePalms entry, she'll mention that Commander Shepard has a great ass, ''twice'', and will mention it again if broken up with after the Citadel coup in the third game.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: If you're male and turn down the chance of romancing her, Ashley will mention finding her own entertainment [[IllBeInMyBunk in her bunk.]]

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[[center: [- [[Characters/MassEffect Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/MassEffectCommanderShepard Commander Shepard]] | [[Characters/MassEffect1PartyMembers Party 1 Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffectKaidanAlenko Kaidan Alenko]] | '''Ashley Williams''' | [[Characters/MassEffectGarrusVakarian Garrus Vakarian]] | [[Characters/MassEffectLiaraTSoni Liara T'Soni]] | [[Characters/MassEffectTaliZorah Tali'Zorah]] | [[Characters/MassEffectUrdnotWrex Urdnot Wrex]] | [[Characters/MassEffect1Antagonists Mass Effect 1 Antagonists]] | [[Characters/MassEffect1Npcs Mass Effect 1 NPCs]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2EarlyPartyMembers Early Party 2 Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffectMirandaLawson Miranda Lawson]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2LatePartyMembers Late Party 2 Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2SecretPartyMembers Mass Effect 2 Secret Party Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2MainAntagonists Mass Effect 2 Main Antagonists]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2SecondaryAntagonists Mass Effect 2 Secondary Antagonists]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2NormandyCrew Normandy Crew]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2CouncilSpaceNPCs Mass Effect 2 Council Space NPCs]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2NonCouncilSpaceNPCs Mass Effect 2 Non-Council Space NPCs]] | [[Characters/MassEffect3PartyMembers Party 3 Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffect3AntagonistsAndNpcs Mass Effect 3 Antagonists and NPCs]] | [[Characters/MassEffect3MultiplayerCharacters Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Characters]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaPathfinderRyder Pathfinder Ryder]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaPartyMembers Party Andromeda Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaCrewOfTheTempest Crew of the Tempest]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaTheAndromedaInitiative The Andromeda Initiative]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaTheKett The Kett]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaTheAngara The Angara]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaOtherCharacters Andromeda Other Characters]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaMultiplayerCharacters Multiplayer Characters]]]]-]

[[center: [- [[Characters/MassEffect Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/MassEffectCommanderShepard Commander Shepard]] | [[Characters/MassEffect1PartyMembers Party 1 Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffectKaidanAlenko Kaidan Alenko]] | '''Ashley Williams''' | [[Characters/MassEffectGarrusVakarian Garrus Vakarian]] | [[Characters/MassEffectLiaraTSoni Liara T'Soni]] | [[Characters/MassEffectTaliZorah Tali'Zorah]] | [[Characters/MassEffectUrdnotWrex Urdnot Wrex]] | [[Characters/MassEffect1Antagonists Mass Effect 1 Antagonists]] | [[Characters/MassEffect1Npcs Mass Effect 1 NPCs]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2EarlyPartyMembers Early Party 2 Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2LatePartyMembers Late Party 2 Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2SecretPartyMembers Mass Effect 2 Secret Party Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2MainAntagonists Mass Effect 2 Main Antagonists]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2SecondaryAntagonists Mass Effect 2 Secondary Antagonists]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2NormandyCrew Normandy Crew]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2CouncilSpaceNPCs Mass Effect 2 Council Space NPCs]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2NonCouncilSpaceNPCs Mass Effect 2 Non-Council Space NPCs]] | [[Characters/MassEffect3PartyMembers Party 3 Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffect3AntagonistsAndNpcs Mass Effect 3 Antagonists and NPCs]] | [[Characters/MassEffect3MultiplayerCharacters Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Characters]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaPathfinderRyder Pathfinder Ryder]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaPartyMembers Party Andromeda Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaCrewOfTheTempest Crew of the Tempest]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaTheAndromedaInitiative The Andromeda Initiative]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaTheKett The Kett]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaTheAngara The Angara]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaOtherCharacters Andromeda Other Characters]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaMultiplayerCharacters Multiplayer Characters]]]]-]